A sea of red spread across U.S. natural gas markets during the Aug. 16-20 week as comfortable temperatures and heavy showers moved into the Northeast. With the Pacific Northwest also getting some relief from the unrelenting heat, NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. plunged 21.0 cents to $3.810.

EIA storage Aug 13

Futures prices, meanwhile, fluctuated quite a bit more. The Nymex strip whipsawed back and forth throughout the week as macro factors came into play and some fundamentals caught the market off guard.

At the same time, tropical activity ramped up this week, with Hurricane Grace making an initial landfall early Thursday near Tulum, Mexico. A second landfall was expected over the weekend along the Mexico coast.

Tropical Storm Henri was heading toward the Northeast. The storm was...